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SAINT JOHN'S CHURCH, PROVIDENCE, 



WEID.N'KSDAY, APEIL 19, 1S65, 



THE DAT APPOINTED FOR THE 



gmml #teeqme$ of f«riAmt tBitwta, 



REV. RICHARD B. DUANE, 



ASSISTANT RECTOR. 



PROVIDENCE: 

H. H . THOMAS &, CO., OFFICE OF Till-: DAILY PRESS 

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PREACHED IN 



SAINT JOHN'S CHURCH, PROVIDENCE, 



WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, I860, 



THE DAT APPOINTED FOB THB 



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REV. RICHARD B. DUANE, 



ASSISTANT RECTOR. />$> 

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PROVIDENCE: 

H. H. THOMAS & CO., OFFICE OF THE DAILY PRESS. 
1865. 



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Providence, 21 Ai>ril, 1865. 
Dear Sir: 

The undersigned, having listened with great satisfaction to the sermon preached 

by you in St. John's Church, on Wednesday, 19th inst., in commemoration of the 

death of President Lincoln, and believing that the cause of Christian patriotism 

would be promoted by a wider diffusion of the sentiments uttered by you on that 

occasion, respectfully request that yon will furnish a copy of the discourse for 

publication. 

We are, very truly, your friends, 

PHILIP ALLEN, 

WM. S. SLATER, 

S. C. BLODGET, 

WILLIAM BINNEY, 

R. M. SHERMAN, 

HENRY H. ORMSBEE, 

J. S. ORMSBEE, 

THOS. P. SHEPARD, 

ROBERT H. IVES, 

WILLIAM GODDAR1), 

ZACHARIAH ALLEN, 

WILLIAM D. ELY, 

E. W. HOWARD, 

T. P. I. GODDARD. 

To Rev. Richard B. Duane, Asst. Rector of St. John's Church. 



St. John's Rectory, April 25, 1865. 
Gentlemen : 

Your note of the 21st inst., requesting for publication a copy of the sermon 
preached at St. John's Church on the 19th, has been received, and the sermon is 
sent herewith, with great pleasure, in the hope that it will subserve the purpose 
for which you desire it. 

I am faithfully yours, 

RICH'D B. DUANE, 

Assistant Rector. 
Messrs. Philip Allen, Wm. S. Slater, S. C. Blodget, and others. 



SERMON. 



"Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be 
afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the 
same: for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which 
is evil, be afraid ; for he beareth not the sword in vain : for he is the minister of 
God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." 

[Romans, 13 : 3, 4. 



In the last remarkable Inaugural Address of the 
now departed President, we find the following lan- 
guage : "As was said three thousand years ago, so 
still it must be said, that 'the judgments of the 
Lord are true and righteous altogether.' " 

It has seemed to me that it is our first duty on 
this occasion of heavy sorrow to reiterate this truth. 
" The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
altogether." We bow our heads and hearts before 
this stroke of God, confessing His sovereignty and 
our sins. But let us not forget His grace and loving 
kindness. He will be entreated of us. In wrath 
He will remember mercy. 

1. If the Almighty had been pleased to spare the 
valued life, so recently taken, to the close of another 



6 



four years' term of public service — if the late Chief 
Magistrate had retired once more to private life — 
and, in the quiet of his own home, had passed away 
from earth, there would have been, even then, much 
to call forth our sorrow at his death. There have 
been few public men who have a record such as his. 
He was a large-hearted, disinterested, honest, faithful 
man. High praise, this, but not one whit too 
high. As an individual, he had remarkable judg- 
ment — "great calmness of temper — great firmness 
of purpose — supreme moral principle — and intense 
patriotism." Or, as described in the prayer which 
we not long since offered to God, he set a bright 
"example of courage and constancy, meekness and 
patience, loyalty and fidelity." He was never fierce 
or vindictive under provocation — he never faltered 
in the dark hours — (when some who had been more 
intense in their heat grew cold and semi-disloyal) — 
he was not blown about by the winds of good or 
ill success — and never lost his moorings even when 
the waves raged most horribly. And therefore I 
say, that, as a public man alone, his death, had it 
come four or five, or even a score of years hence, 
would have created a profound feeling in our land. 

2. The solemnity of the occasion is wonderfully 
enhanced when we know that this eminent public 
servant died while exercising supreme Executive 
power in the land, and that he died under the blow 
of an assassin. This death seems to come to us ever 
and anon as if we had but just heard of it. We 
renew our experience of the first intelligence as it 



came to us, and say from day to day, " Our President 
murdered ! " It was indeed a huge crime — it was a 
dastardly act — to strike down an unsuspecting, unre- 
sisting man. It was part of a plot to murder many, 
perhaps, in cold blood. But still, simply as a crime 
against one man, it seems to me that it rises not to 
the magnitude of other crimes against the lives of 
men like it the outgrowth of the same pestilent 
rebellion. It was mean to take by stealth the life of 
the defenceless, in an hour of supposed security ; 
but think, my friends, of the hundreds and thousands 
of our unarmed and defenceless prisoners, who had 
yielded themselves to the enemy, whose lives have 
been destroyed — who have been frozen to death — 
have been starved to death — have sickened and died 
in the pens where they were herded like cattle. If 
the late murder and its accompanying murderous 
assault stood alone, we might attribute them to the 
frenzy of a few fanatical men. But when we look 
across our maps, and read the names : " Belle Isle," 
"Salisbury," " Andersonville," we are compelled to 
think differently. We know that many died within 
sound of the bells of Richmond, and that such men 
as Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee stood by, con- 
senting unto their death. We need not wonder, 
then, if the same fell spirit, which nerved the arm 
to strike down a Senator on the Senate floor, which 
called forth the plaudits of thousands approving 
that act, and which could inaugurate the cruelties of 
the Southern prisons, found an outflow in that act 
which robbed us of our Chief Magistrate. 



3. The crime, however, rises into its gigantic 
enormity as we remember that it ivas the Chief Mag- 
istrate who was thus laid low. "The powers that 
be are ordained of God. Whosoever resisteth the 

power, resisteth the ordinance of God He is 

the minister of God," What, then, must be the 
crime that thus strikes at the head of a nation, at a 
Ruler placed at its head by the Almighty Himself? 
It is in this light that we must view the deed. One 
man struck the blow— but the whole spirit of the 
rebellion was behind him, urging him on. The 
death accomplished was designed more than four 
years ago. Aye, even before the President-elect had 
taken his chair or uttered an official word, it was 
intended that he should die : and it was intended 
that the blow should reach the nation's life as well 
as his, and that anarchy should pave the way for the 
uprising of the new power in the land. All the 
work of the past four years— all the taking away of 
life from those who were defending the powers 
ordained of God — is of one pattern. We are no 
more able to glorify the generals of the South than 
the assassins of the South, if we but look at the true 
state of the case. 

4. When we thus think of the official position of 
the departed, we are reminded of his eminent quali- 
fications for that high station. These qualifications 
would have been eminent in the time of the pro- 
foundest peace, but they shone conspicuously indeed 
during the period of intestine conflict. Whatever 
may have been the fears of citizens during the four 



9 

years now past, the result has proved that our Presi- 
dent was gifted with extraordinary political wisdom. 
It was only in a gradual way that men came to 
appreciate this fact. By some deemed too slow, by 
others too fast, time has proved that he was neither 
too slow nor too fast. He has always been at the 
helm himself, and with the grapple of a gigantic 
rebellion upon him, — with many real traitors and 
more half-hearted, sordid, cowardly tremblers where 
all ought to have been earnestly loyal, he has, by 
God's help, borne himself so nobly and courageously 
that even those who disapproved have been com- 
pelled to admire. He has died, as one says, " a martyr 
to the cause of good government, to the faithful 
discharge of duty, and to his earnest devotion to the 
rights of men." 

We mourn, we weep at the loss of a true and 
tender man ; we are bowed in grief at the removal 
of so wise and good a Ruler. 

5. Let me attempt, now, to draw forth some of 
the lessons which we should derive from God's deal- 
ings with us during the past week. We may be 
tempted to put submission first : but let us put a 
more exalted feeling first — let it be gratitude — 
gratitude to God for having ever given us such a 
man to rule over us — especial gratitude for His 
having raised him up to meet the emergency, so 
little dreamed of by most of us, but so clearly dis- 
cerned by God, and so amply provided for. We can 
well imagine what would have been our fate, if four 

years since a man less true, less disinterested, less 
2 



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wise, less firm, had met the shock which came. God 
gave us this man: — and, moreover, God kept him 
through dangers on the right hand and on the left. 
God held His hand over him, and no evil came nigh 
to harm him till his work was done. We owe God 
gratitude for the preservation of his life. We were 
never so well able to bear the stroke as we were 
last week — never, never before — in the four years. 
How good God has been to us to send us the trial 
when we were best able to endure it. " The Lord 
gave and the Lord hath taken away : Blessed be 
the name of the Lord." 

And see, too, how merciful God was to him, to 
allow him to see the coming of that end, for which 
he had given so many toils, had borne the contempt 
of men, themselves beneath contempt, and had en- 
dured so many griefs. He saw the dawning day. 
He had already spoken of the coming reconstruction, 
and with singular wisdom. His eyes had looked 
upon the stronghold, which had so long defied our 
armies ; and over it was the dear old flag ! Traitors 
flying — treason dying; the loyal masses grateful and 
triumphant. In one sense this was a choice hour 
in which to die: and in it he died — died without 
pain — sealing with his blood the testimony of his 
lips and life. 

Thus we may mingle gratitude with our grief, 
and thanksgivings with our submission to the Al- 
mighty's will. We must weep — how can we fail to 
weep over a true man, a true friend to his country, 
to the whole people, to the poor, the abject, the 



11 



despised — gone! But we can better bear the loss 
as we remember what God has permitted us to gain. 
6. Moreover, we may one day discern clearly, 
what seems probable now, that God in this provi- 
dential taking away of our President, has saved us 
from other perils. We were in danger of being 
exalted beyond measure by our successes. Already 
some were uttering the old words of pride and self- 
sufficiency, for which God has rebuked us so fearfully. 
We were speedily forgetting the Great Deliverer, 
who sitteth in the heavens over all. God has merci- 
fully not allowed us to forget Him. He has stepped 
forth in His might and majesty : He has laid His 
hand upon our country's best treasure and taken it 
away. He seems to say in our ears to-day — " See, 
oh ! see, vainglorious men, how easily I can blight — 
how easily I might have ruined — how easily I may 
yet destroy." Jehovah teaches us the lesson of abso- 
lute dependence upon Him. Oh ! that this people 
might learn it in their heart of hearts, and act it in 
their lives. And there was another danger into 
which we were drifting — into which some had 
already drifted, even our beloved President himself. 
It was a mistaken leniency towards the leaders in 
the army or in the cabinet of the insurgents. We 
felt it when it was first exhibited — we feel it more 
deeply now. This would have been a fearful error. 
This would be to put darkness for light — and light 
for darkness ; to put bitter for sweet, and sweet for 
bitter. It is some comfort to know now that this 
danger at least has passed away. Let us be grate- 



12 

ful for that. Thus much for our duty to GoD-ward. 

We have our duties, also, as citizens, enforced 
upon us by this severe trial. 

7. We meet to-day, as it were, over the dead 
body of the President — he was the President of the 
United States : and standing in that awful presence 
we clasp each other's hands with one accord, and 
renew our vows of allegiance to our country. We 
have a country. God being our helper, we mean to 
have one still. The thrust at the life of the man 
has been deadly : but before the country's life-blood 
can be drained away, a rampart of living millions 
must be thrown down. 

We pledge ourselves anew to the most determined 
and resolute and unfading and unswerving opposi- 
tion to Treason and to Traitors. "An outraged 
nation must henceforth regard the friends of such a 
rebellion as the enemies of the human race." We 
must understand and appreciate the inspired truth 
contained in the text from which I preach to-day. 
" There is no power but of God : the jDowers that be 
are ordained of God." "If thou do that which is 
evil, be afraid; for" [the ruler] "beareth not the 
sword in vain : for he is the minister of God, a 
revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth 
evil." 

Oh ! what a commentary we have been writing on 
this for the past four years ! What a mighty sword 
has the minister of God, whom He placed over us 
as President, been wielding — bearing it not in vain! 
He has been executing wrath upon those who 



13 



brought this gigantic evil upon a country that had 
nurtured them, and a government that had never 
done them aught save good. 

God, in His providence, did, last Saturday, take 
that sword from the dying grasp of one President, 
to place it in the living grasp of another. May God 
make him faithful and true — save him from sin — 
endue him with power and grace to suffer and to do ! 
And may he not bear the sword in vain. There 
must be no vindictiveness — but there must be stern 
justice meted out. There must be some severity — 
otherwise the magistrate zvill bear the sword in vain. 
Let nothing "lash us into the meanness of revenge." 
But, on the other hand, let nothing seduce our Gov- 
ernment into a criminal weakness and forgetfulness 
of its responsibilities to God. Let the deceived go 
free — but 'let the deceivers receive the due reward 
of their deeds. As a writer most forcibly says : 

" We shall not act in the line of God's moral gov- 
ernment, unless we treat this awful crime of rebel- 
lion in such a manner as, at the same, to show its 

hideous and fearful wrong We must certainly 

do nothing which will foster in the Southern mind 
the delusion that this rebellion was a glorious, though 

unsuccessful, effort to be free We must not 

treat it as if it were a fair fight for an equally hon- 
orable object : and as if now, in the midst of victory, 
we could afford to make light of its cause, and en- 
courage them to think well of themselves, because 
their bravery has offset their wrong. . . . We should 
adopt a policy of expatriation and disfranchisement" 



14 

[I would use other and stronger words, meaning 
other and stronger things] " of those wicked leaders 
and conspirators, and especially those who had been 
in the service, and enjoyed the honors and emolu- 
ments of Government, who have involved the rebel 
States in this fearful guilt, and all the country in 

this bitter woe Let us not fail to exhibit the 

majesty of calm and unimpassioned justice." 

Let me now conclude, as I began, by quoting from 
the last Inaugural Address, pronounced by Mr. Lin- 
coln on the 4th of March : 

" ' Woe unto the world because of offences, for it 
must needs be that offences come, but woe to that 
man by whom the offence cometh.' If we shall sup- 
pose that American slavery is one of these offences, 
which in the Providence of God must needs come, 
but which having continued through His " appointed 
time, He now wills to remove ; and that He gives to 
both North and South this terrible war as the woe 
due to those by whom the offence came ; shall we 
discern that there is any departure from those Divine 
attributes which the believers in a living God always 
ascribed to Him ? 

" Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that 
this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. 

" Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the 
wealth piled up by the bondman's two hundred and 
fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and 
until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall 
be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was 
said three thousand years ago, so still it must be 



15 

said, that 'the judgments of the Lord are true and 
righteous altogether.' " 

It was a marvellous Providence that added the 
blood of our martyred leader to that ocean nearly 
full. And the time rendered it still more striking. 
The great rebel army was annihilated — almost the 
last sea-port captured — the last great battle fought: 
Northern blood and Southern blood had gone to 
swell a common tide : when the blood of him who 
was the rightful President of North and South alike 
is added to the rest. Wonderful are the dealings of 
God ! Inscrutable are His judgments ! But still 
they are " true and righteous altogether " ! 



God, Merciful Father, who despisest not the 
sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of such as 
are sorrowful; mercifully assist our prayers which 
we make before Thee in all our troubles and adver- 
sities, whensoever they oppress us ; and graciously 
hear us, that those evils which the craft and subtlety 
of the devil or man worketh against us, may, by 
Thy good providence, be brought to naught ; that 
we, Thy servants, being hurt by no persecutions, 
may ever more give thanks unto Thee in Thy holy 
Church ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 






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